Billa Harrod published the Shell Guide in 1958 and it
was co-written with Charles Linnell who was the rector
of Letheringsett. (John Betjeman and John Piper were the
editors of the series.) As a result of her research she
discovered that many of the county's churches were in a
bad state of repair and, supported by Betjeman, she set
about saving them. She became the founding chairman of
the Norfolk Society Committee for Country Churches which
later became the Norfolk Churches Trust. In 1970 she was also instrumental in
saving 32 medieval churches in Norwich which were facing
demolition.Billa first met Betjeman in 1933 through
her friend Penelope Chetwode - who later became
Betjeman's wife. In fact, Betjeman asked Billa to marry
him when he was already engaged to Penelope. However,
this was just Betjeman's way of showing his admiration
for her and fortunately nobody took offence.
When her husband Roy retired in 1963 the couple moved
to The Old Rectory on the outskirts of Holt. She
continued to be active in preservation and persuaded
Prince Charles to become patron of the Norfolk Churches
Trust in 1989. She died in 2005.
Another Lethingsett lliterary connection is the fact
that
Cozens Hardy wrote a History of
Letheringsett in the County of Norfolk - which included the following epitaph
to Johnson Jex who was the village blacksmith and a
self-taught scientist. The epitaph is on Jex's
gravestone in the churchyard which is now rather
weather-worn and difficult to read; fortunately there is
a printed version inside the church.
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